Journalist Jennifer Mascia (left) wrote “The Gun Report” for The New York Times. Here, she is interviewed by 11th grade youth reporter, Olivia Shaw (right).

Jennifer Mascia reports on gun violence in America. For more than a year, at The New York Times, she and Joe Nocera wrote “The Gun Report,” a daily series telling the stories of people killed by gunfire in the US. The series was personal for her; one of the people she wrote about was a friend, Ali Eskandarian. But it turns out the subject hits even closer to home: Mascia’s own father was convicted of murder. She writes about discovering this disturbing information in her memoir, Never Tell Our Business to Strangers.

Olivia Shaw, an 11th-grade reporter, read Mascia’s memoir and asked for the chance to interview her in the week before TEDYouth. Below, an edited transcript of their conversation.